Alaska Dinosaurs: An Ancient Arctic World

Anthony Fiorillo has been exploring the Arctic since 1998. For him, like many others, the Arctic holds the romance of uncharted territory, extreme conditions, and the inevitable epic challenges that arise. For Fiorillo, however, the Arctic also holds the secrets of the history of life on Earth, and its fossils bring him back field season after field season in pursuit of improving human understanding of ancient history. His studies of the rocks and fossils of the Arctic shed light on a world that once was, and provide insight into what might be.

Review: Polar regions and fossils are topics of perpetual interest. Now we are in a world of global warming, in which polar regions heat first and suffer more immediate impacts. The Cretaceous was a greenhouse world with warmer poles and, thus, serve as a warm Earth analog. Fiorillo is undoubtedly the best person to have written this book because of his experience in the field, his numerous publications, and his complementary work in Asia. Louis L. Jacobs, Southern Methodist University. Alaska Dinosaurs: An Ancient Arctic World is a cutting-edge presentation of Cretaceous Arctic ecosystems. This comprehensive work represents an important step forward in presenting Alaska's fascinating fossil history. Federico Fanti, Universita di Bologna. The work reads like a call to arms to explore the paleontological significance of the ancient Arctic. Mead Treadwell, former Lt. Governor of Alaska and former Chair of the United States Arctic Research Commission

Author Biography: Anthony R. Fiorillo is the Vice President of Research and Collection and Chief Curator at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Geology at Southern Methodist University and Affiliated Faculty in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He is Fellow of the Geological Society of America and serves as an Academic Editor for PLoS ONE. And he is the author and/or co-author of over 100 peer-review scholarly articles.

The Age of the Ancient Arctic. History of Arctic Dinosaur Discoveries. Geologic Overview of Alaska. The Bones. The Footprints. Something about the plants. Aspects of paleobiology and paleoecology. Paleoclimate. Synopsis